Archive for February, 2019|Monthly archive page

Around 1,500 lifts managed by the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council will undergo the same Lift Enhancement Programme in the next 10 years, with the first batch of 180 lifts slated for upgrading in the next 15 months, a spokesman said in response to media queries.

My take on chances of PAP winning in Aljunied: very good, if Pritam, Auntie and Low stand, or if Pritam stands with the other two stepping down, as I expect them to. Whatever the outcome of the court case against them, they are soiled goods: WP: Will Ownself sabo Ownself?

Well since earlier this year, I had it from Morocco Mole‘s twin brother that Low and Auntie would not be contesting the next GE. And it wouldn’t have been a secret if Morocco Mole’s twin brother knew about it. It was something the WP cadres were openly talking about among themselves, even if they were not posting about in on FB

But if WP has Faizal, Show Mao and three new faces (I’m assuming that they’ll be the usual credible WP candidates, one of whom will be Lion Man: Will WP MPs walk the talk of Lion Man Leon?), I think that the swing voters will give the Wankers the benefit of the doubt, especially if Dr Tan Cheng Bock endorses the team. Interesting that Bayee is in this photo (Blackface Chee/ Tan Cheng Bock etc): Auntie and Low would rather be dead then be seen with Mad Dog.

They and him must still be sore that they never made it to RI or MGS itsit? Or even to lesser schools like ACS (I), SCGS, Raffles Girls or even Chinese High (rebranded Hwa Chong to escape the taint of being the Red Commie School that trained Chinese towkays’ children).

sets out the convoluted facts in a simple to read and follow narrative, while also highlighting the tragedy and fears of HIV sufferers. The use of this incident by both the PAP, and the anti-PAP activists, and their allied cybernuts for political ends, confuses the facts and issues, and detracts from the human suffering caused.

OK, OK, Hyflux never said this. But going by what it has said publicly (See below), one can reasonable infer that this is the message it’s trying to imply: the motor-cycle riding Ms Lum, other investors, employees etc are suffering because Hyflux’s banksters were scared of losing their money, making a run at Hyflux, trying to squeeze money from Hyflux’s hard assets.

Let me explain.

According to Hyflux everything was fine financially in March when it’s auditors chanted everything was halal, not haram.

When KPMG issued an unqualified opinion on the full year results for the Hyflux Group in March 2018, there were no events or conditions that individually or collectively, cast significant doubt on the going concern assumption as at the balance sheet date of 31 December 2017, or at the audit report date of 22 March 2018.

Must be joking, right?

Auditors are supposed to assess continual use of going concern assumptions over the next 12 months as per the Singapore Auditing Standards SSA 570. With the (bankruptcy) protection filing date being two months after KPMG’s sign-off date, what are the material variances which have not been contemplated resulting in this failed assessment?

BT quoting an investor who lost $ in Hyflux

—————————————————————————————————-

Then according to Hyflux, everything went wrong when in May, there was a run on Hyflux by its banksters. Because of its bad (and unexpected?) Q12018 results announced on 9 May: “certain financiers expressed concerns over their ability to continue with existing credit exposures to the group.”* They tot halal Hyflux had transmuted into haram Hyflux.

Reminds me of the joke which Hyflux should have quoted:

A Banker Lends You His Umbrella When It’s Sunny and Wants It Back When It Rains

(Often attributed to Mark Twain)

But to be fair to its banks, did Hyflux tell its banks post December 2017 results, that everything was oh so fine financially, so that the 1Q 2018 results came as a big surprise to its lenders?

To be continued.

But I’ll leave you with what a top banking lawyer** once told other lawyers about bankers

Just remember this: if bankers were as smart as you, you would starve to death

(Henry Harfield addressing a meeting of lawyers in 1974)

Remember MayBank (the non-recourse lender) according to Hyflux really believed that Tuaspring was worth more than $1bn.

When Hyflux was first awarded the Tuaspring project in 2011, based on the financial model which modeled the cashflow projections from the project, the power plant was expected to generate profits from day one. This financial model was audited by an external financial model auditor and furnished to the offtaker. In 2013 when Tuaspring was able to secure a non-recourse project financing loan, the lender commissioned an independent market study of the project which arrived at similar conclusions supporting the book value of approximately SGD1.4 billion.

The operating losses of Tuaspring drove Hyflux to record its first full year of loss in 2017. When losses were also reported in its first quarter 2018 results released on 9 May 2018, certain financiers expressed concerns over their ability to continue with existing credit exposures to the group. This, coupled with the uncertainty of Tuaspring divestment or entry of a strategic investor, raised a significant spectre of an upcoming liquidity crunch. Accordingly, subsequent to discussions with its legal and financial advisors, the Hyflux Board was advised to proactively take steps to make an application for a moratorium order, which is where events stand today. At that point in time, the company was in full compliance with its financial covenants and was not in default of any financing facility.

Mr. Harfield spent his entire career at the New York law firm of Shearman & Sterling, where he helped develop the legal and regulatory framework for the international banking business after World War II. He represented the firm’s lead bank client, Citibank.

Many of the issues he worked on were esoteric, but important. He developed the legal basis for negotiable certificates of deposits, creating a legal way for commercial banks to pay interest on deposits. Citibank introduced certificates of deposit as a product in 1961.

This reminded me that “In Love, Money & Parenting”, Matthias Doepke and Fabrizio Zilibotti, write that economic trends are the underlying drivers of various approaches to raising children.

They find that in countries with low inequality, such as Sweden, parents tend to be more permissive. In countries with high inequality, parents are “both more authoritarian and more prone to instil in their children a drive to achieve ambitious goals”.

They cited the US as an example but S’pore sure fits the bill. Think of all the tuition and enrichment lessons etc.

Another insight is “The parenting choices of the rich differ systematically from those of the poor … For example, psychologists have long noted that authoritarian parenting is more prevalent in families with low income.”

And there’s this, that’s not applicable here: “[S]ocial and economic discrimination in labour markets [means that] parents will have weaker incentives to invest in their daughter’s human capital, since the return to such investment is low”.

Either that or he one super blur spastic cat. Whatever, he’s one of the PAP’s most effective weapons in it’s attempts to slime the Oppo as a bunch of nutty opportunists.

Further to Merdeka Package shows how smart scholars are, I had tot Goh Meng Seng was trying to be like Alex Tan (Mrs Chiam said he was like a son) of States Times, S’pore Herald etc etc: a purveyor of fake news. This appeared in TRE under his name (emphasis mine):

Back in 2018, the PAP boasted that the Net Investment Return Contribution (NIRC) has more than doubled from $7b in 2009 to $15.9b in 2018.

However, the NIRC for 2019 has dramatically dropped to $3.6b in – which is about half of 2009′s NIRC when the world was facing an unprecedented global financial crisis!

Under the rules, the government can contribute up to 50% of total investment returns to the budget. Hence, there are two possibilities here.

The first is that it may have decided to use much less than the maximum 50% just to show that there is “deficit” and this is thus an “expansionary budget”. It might even be the case of political posturing to show that the government needs to raise GST to 9% because of “deficits”!

The second possibility is that our Sovereign Wealth Funds – GIC and Temasek Holdings – and MAS had suffered unprecedented losses which resulted in this dramatic drop in the NIRC!

Either way, it does not look too good.

These are the questions my team and I will pose to the PAP government if we are elected into parliament.

Goh Meng Seng

The NIRC is $17.2bn (up 4%). So what was Meng Seng smoking in his opium pipe? Ganja? Or Grandpa Xi’s dried turds? Too poor to buy opium?

Seriously either he was faking the NIRC number or he can’t read while at the same time smoking ganja or dried turd. Whatever, do we want him and his fellow clowns in parly? Remember he said:

These are the questions my team and I will pose to the PAP government if we are elected into parliament.

To be fair to him, this later appeared:

Correction:

The Straits Time reported that there will be a “basic deficit of $7.1B” and after taking into account of NIRC, the deficit is reduced to $3.5B.

After double checking the figures, this statement is misleading.

The deficit of $3.5B is the result of taking in BOTH the NIRC and the Special Transfers (all those goodies) into account.

The actual NIRC is $17.2B(up 4%) while the Special Transfer is $15.3B (up 70%).

My apology. I should not have trusted the Straits Time fully and should counter check on the figures.

Goh Meng Seng

So either Goh Meng Seng chickened out of lying or double confirm twice over twice over that he’s a double cock. Can’t get his facts right first time and giving a gibberish excuse for not getting it right first time. Other people have read the ST report (self included) and got the correct numbers from the ST report.

Whatever, do we want him and his fellow clowns in parly? Remember he said:

These are the questions my team and I will pose to the PAP government if we are elected into parliament.

And waz he doing relying on the constructive, nation-building ST for facts? Shouldn’t he be relying on TOC, State Times, S’pore Herald and other cybernut alt news outlets? And these are free to boot, unlike ST.

It shows how the PAP’s millionaire ministers are killing five birds with one stone.

The Budget especially the Merdeka Generation Package has been condemned by all the usual suspects. Alt media and social media is full of criticism of said Budget. Nothing new here especially from the cybernuts who like Goh Meng Seng are prepared to misrepresent the facts (More on this another day). (Related post: 10- 20% of voters are anti-PAP cybernuts.)

Here’s an interesting angle from 99.co which has no known or even alleged links to the PAP IB or the constructive, nation building media.

THE MERDEKA GENERATION PACKAGE WILL INDIRECTLY HELP WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The Merdeka Generation Package will benefit some 500,000 Singaporeans, mostly from ages 60 to 69. Over S$6 billion will be channelled into outpatient treatment subsidies, Medisave top-ups, and CHAS coverage of chronic illnesses.

But how does this affect Singapore’s housing? One of the biggest contributors to our rising cost of living is healthcare. Singapore’s healthcare inflation is now the highest in the region, and it will grow as our population ages. Anything that mitigates the rising cost of living will indirectly affect our ability to afford housing.

We feel that, while most Singaporeans can afford their HDB flats, taking the strain off healthcare costs will affect the housing considerations of retirees, or those near retirement. It may now be possible for some of them to finish off outstanding home loans instead of downgrading, for example, given CHAS coverage of chronic conditions and greater outpatient subsidies.

It says HSBC’s Asia pivot makes it a natural victim of US-China trade rows. Chairman Mark Tucker blamed market weakness during the fourth quarter for lower-than-expected revenue for 2018: must have financed large share purchases on margin.

Combined with a 6 per cent rise in adjusted operating expenses as the lender seeks to expand across the northern China and Pearl Delta areas, this resulted in negative adjusted “jaws” – the difference between the rates of change in revenue and costs — of 1.2 per cent.

In its global banking and markets business, economic uncertainty and reduced primary issuance led to lower adjusted rates and credit revenue. But this was partially offset by stronger demand for securities services and global cash management liquidity.

Retail banking and wealth management were much stronger, posting an 8 per cent rise in net operating income. That business benefited from a 9 per cent rise in lending and improved deposit margins due to rising interest rates.

But mortgage lending grew in the UK and Hong Kong, although margins shrank.

Higher lending and adverse foreign exchange movements across business lines also resulted in an increase in adjusted risk-weighted assets, which reduced the common equity tier one ratio to 14 per cent from 14.5 per cent in the prior year. However, the return on tangible equity improved by 1.8 percentage points to 8.6 per cent, with management reiterating its target to grow that figure to over 11 per cent by 2020.

Expected credit losses were slightly higher than loan impairment charges in 2017: blame Brexit and trade rows. Credit quality in the UK will get worse.

Analysts at Shore Capital expect adjusted net tangible assets of 732 cents (US) a share at the December 2019 year-end, up from 701 cents at the same time in the previous year.

According to a survey commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), 90% of people that were polled in 2018 are proud to be S’poreans, while 80% agreed that S’pore is a caring and cohesive society.

The findings also showed that eight in 10 S’poreans were satisfied with race and religious relations in 2018, while two in three agreed that there were enough opportunities to interact with people of different backgrounds and beliefs.

These findings of the annual survey were revealed for the first time by Minister Grace Fu on Tuesday (22 January) in a wide-ranging interview on her ministry’s work last year.

TOC, The Indian Idiots, TRE and other anti-PAP publications and social media were outraged saying that S’pore is not “a caring and cohesive society” etc. Example

Upon reading the survey’s result, many netizens have expressed that they’re proud to be Singaporeans.

However, although a lot of them are proud to be Singaporeans, but they have opined that they don’t like the current ruling party.

Terry’s Online Channel

With enemies like these who confirm the survey’s findings, the PAP doesn’t need friends.

Because investors are likely to be disappointed: slower revenue growth, no share-buy back and dividend yield could go up (share price falls).

JPMorgan Cazenove, a leading UK broker, downgraded HSBC to “underweight” from “neutral” with a 620p target on the back of the bank’s full-year results on Tuesday. Among the broker’s concerns was a rise in funding costs as Hibor — a measure of lending costs between banks in Hong Kong — underperforms Libor, the equivalent UK rate.

Although we rate HSBC’s management highly and view the group on the right strategic path long term, we believe that revenue growth pressures (partly as a result of the changed outlook for US rate hikes, a widening Libor-Hibor gap and macro uncertainty) alongside cost investment needs could weigh on the [return on tangible equity] outlook for longer than we previously thought.”

With HSBC unlikely to deliver an 11% on tangible equity by 2020, its premium valuation of 1.2 times book value looked exposed, JPMorgan said. It added that while HSBC no longer had a capital surplus, but investors continued to expect a share buyback this year.

The dividend of 51 cents (US) should remain stable over the medium term but the yield of 6% (in line with other UK banks) might move higher (i.e. because share price falls) because of the the uncertainties faced,

Trouble is that a high yield and low dividend cover (the ratio of a company’s net profits to the total sum allotted in dividends to ordinary shareholders) doesn’t leave a company much room to invest or as a buffer against market shocks.

Hyflux reflects the old broker’s truism that high yields and good news do not go together.

For investors in Reits pls remember that Reits have no cover for distributions, unlike normal cos.

But it was not an “honest mistake” that it sounded like the constructive, nation-building ST for awhile. Morocco Mole (Secret Squirrel’s side-kick) tells me that his, usually unreliable brother-in-law working in the ISD tells him that someone substituted “PAP is always right” pills for Terry Xu’s and Correspondent’s daily “PAP is always wrong” pills.

Wah lan! Who who would have tot this possible? TOC is now amplifying ST’s constructive, nation-building messages that “The PAP govt really cares S’poreans, really they do” and “Vote PAP”.

I kid u not. Further to Wah lan! TOC praises PAP govt there’s now this paean to the PAP on TOC’s FB page (Skip it if it churns yr stomach, I nearly vomited):

… Singaporeans from older folk and young people give thumbs-up to budget

“Retiree Karin Tan, 64, told ST that she is “very happy” with the package. “I am currently already retired, and do not draw any income. This will help subsidise my medical costs,” she said.

Another Merdeka Generation member, Ameerali Abdeali, praised the government, “I appreciate the recognition and validation that members of my generation are being given for our contributions to the country.”

ST said that the young people it spoke to, welcomed the announcement that the Government will invest in long-term plans to protect Singapore from the effects of global warming. Heng had announced a carbon tax on this year’s emissions and would later launch the Zero Waste Masterplan.

Undergraduate Arjun Dhar told ST, “We are a city with the highest greenery density in the world, in which otters live in the middle of our central business district.”

“As we reflect on the Bicentennial, Singapore should also look to inculcate in all individuals a sense of care for the planet that nurtures us. This means replacing the idea that we are too small to make a difference with the idea that we each have a responsibility to try,” he said.

Ms Pamela Low, 24, a member of the Singapore Youth for Climate Action also told ST in the interview, “The Government eagerly investing in infrastructure to mitigate rising tides and sharing about it at the Budget shows the urgency of addressing the impact of climate change on the national agenda as it would become costlier in the future.”

No it’s not as though Terry and the writer of this piece “Correspondent” have gone over to the Dark Side. Juz an “honest mistake” methinks because the piece ends on the an anti-PAP note, but who reads to the end? Only cybernuts, not most S’poreans.

And why did TOC highlight on FB the pro-PAP propaganda of ST? Some subversive working in TOC? Or juz a clueless intern? And Terry forgot to take his “PAP are wrong wrong” medicine before supervising his team?

Time to take writing and presentation lessons from me? I’ll give Terry and Correspondent a discount.

But I could be wrong. If Terry gets a light “sentence” over his persecution prosecution for criminal defamation and if Correspondent has move into a district 10 bungalow from his HDB flat, the two Jedi have been seduced to the Dark side by the Men In White.

The sum of money that AHTC seeks to claim is unreasonable, as it amounted to all payments made to FMSS and FMSI. This contradicts the previous assessment made by accounting firm KPMG, which stated that there was an alleged improper payment of slightly over S$1.5 million, with only about S$624,000 to be recovered.

The retired cadre who has read all the various audit reports (AGO/ PwC and KPMG) says that while KPMG has lots of issues about the payments made to FMSS and FMSI , it has only flagged as an improper payment an amount around $1.5m. The other payments are open to question, some more questionable than others, only considering as haraman an amount around $1.5m : What the US army and WP have in common

Whatever, funny that the defence lawyer slammed KPMG while relying on its view of liability of the amount in question:

(Part of an occasional series “PAP govt really cares for u, really they do” meant to burst the blood vessels of cybernuts like pork-eating, alcohol drinking “bapak”, and tax-dodging grave-dancer “Oxygen”).

A TLC gives 6,400 elderly S’poreans hongpaos each containing $312.5, whether they are Chinese or not.

A computer system error by NCS (owned by SingTel and ultimately by Temasek) caused about 7,700 individuals to receive inaccurate healthcare and intermediate- and long-term care subsidies, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (Feb 16).

But those who were overpaid will not have to refund. So that’s a lot of free lunches. Can buy a lot of restaurant or hawker food as each hongpao works out to an average of $312.5.

About 6,400 individuals received higher subsidies than what they are eligible for. The total amount is estimated to be about S$2 million. MOH intends to recover from NCS the costs and expenses incurred as a result of this incident, as allowed for under our contract.

And taz not all

“About 1,300 individuals received lower subsidies than what they are eligible for. The total amount is estimated to be about S$400,000. This will be reimbursed to the affected individuals,” MOH said.

Singapore has one of the top education systems in the world. Singapore’s education system supports the development of children’s strengths and social skills. Schools in Singapore produce students with strong academic results who later go on to pursue successful careers.

Amid all the KPKBing by SIAS, Hyflux investors aided and abetted by the anti-PAP cybernuts, why doesn’t anyone from this mob of born losers point out the “honest mistake” made by an agency of the PAP govt that led Hyflux to build Tuaspring? The Electricity Market Authority (EMA) got a key economic projection wrong, badly wrong, by 50 percentage points: see bits I bolded below.

[I]t is important to highlight that when the Tuaspring project was first awarded in 2011, the outlook for the Singapore power market was very favorable. The Tuaspring power plant was projected to turn in profits from day one. At that time, new power generation plants were planned to support the country’s projected electricity demand with a reserve margin of 30%. Today, however, due to oversupply of gas in the market, the projection by Electricity Market Authority (EMA) in their Singapore Electricity Market Outlook 2017 showed an increase in reserve margin to 80% in 2018. By way of illustration,the average wholesale electricity price has dropped from about SGD220 per MWh in 2011 when the Tuaspring project was awarded to an average of SGD81 per MWh in 2017, resulting in significant losses from electricity generation.

And why audited accounts are juz another genre of fiction: science fiction is closer to reality.

I tot these tots when I read Hyflux’s response to a question from the Securities Investors Association of S’pore (SIAS) which read:

On what basis was Tuaspring being valued at SGD1.4 billion? This has proven to be overstated by at least SGD900 million as Hyflux has confirmed any bids received in the 2018 sale process for Tuaspring were for less than Maybank’ s outstanding project finance debt of approximately SGD500 million?

This is what Hyflux said:

When Hyflux was first awarded the Tuaspring project in 2011, based on the financial model which modeled the cashflow projections from the project, the power plant was expected to generate profits from day one. This financial model was audited by an external financial model auditor and furnished to the offtaker. In 2013 when Tuaspring was able to secure a non-recourse project financing loan, the lender commissioned an independent market study of the project which arrived at similar conclusions supporting the book value of approximately SGD1.4 billion.

When the Tuaspring power plant entered into commercial operations in 2016, the lender commissioned another independent market study before the drawdown of the second tranche of the project finance loan, which valuation also then supported the book value ascribed to the Tuaspring project. However, while the 2017 divestment process attracted three preliminary non-binding bids that also supported the book value of the project, the 2018 sale process for Tuaspring during the moratorium did not yield a similar bid due to the limited number of parties pre-qualified to perform due diligence at such time. Please refer to https://www.hyflux.com/qa-from-second-noteholders-townhall-meetings/ for further details on the Tuaspring divestment process.

So book value is what Hyflux or any company says it is. To be fair, this can only happen with the approval of the accounting prostitutes profession and other prostitutes experts.

Think I’m unfair?

This is Hyflux’s response as to how the major assets of Hyflux were valued, and in particular why no impairment write-downs were made:

All major assets of Hyflux are measured at fair value, in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard (“FRS”) 39 –Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement and FRS 105 –Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations. These assets are assessed at the end of each reporting period to determine whether there is objective evidence that they are impaired, in accordance with FRS 36 –Impairment of Assets.

In accordance with the Group’s accounting policies (set out in the Annual Reports), an impairment loss, once determined, is recognised in the Income Statement in the relevant period.

Impairment losses recognised in respect of all non-derivative financial assets and non-financial assets, including investments, (if any) have been disclosed in the Annual Reports in the respective years.

The financial statements of Hyflux, as in all general purpose financial statements, have been prepared using the going concern basis of accounting.Under the going concern basis of accounting, the financial statements are prepared on the assumption that the entity is a going concern and will continue its operations for the foreseeable future.

But Hyflux and the prostitutes accountants and other experts, can point out that the non-recourse lender (Maybank) “commissioned an independent market study of the project which arrived at similar conclusions supporting the book value of approximately SGD1.4 billion.”

If a leading Asean bank could screw up so badly, anti-PAP types shouldn’t be too upset that retail investors lost money.

Further to A really curious incident, where I criticised SIAS for not KPKBing early, here’s one criticism it got right, though why didn’t it raise this earlier, much earlier?

“On Mar 22 2018, KPMG provided a clean a clean audit report for Hyflux Group for the financial year 2017. On May 22 2018, Hyflux Limited and a number of subsidiaries filed for court protection from creditors,” SIAS said, asking what transpired between Mar 22 and May 22 in 2018.

I tot of the National Stadium, Hyflux and MRT (though not technically a public-private initiative) fiascos when I read

The important question is not whether we choose publicly managed infrastructure or public-private partnerships. Neither prevents overbuilt infrastructure projects that do more to profit private interests than to serve public needs. Though we’re used to hearing about burdensome “subsidies” for the most cost-effective modes of transportation, the surface transportation infrastructure we can no longer afford to maintain was built for the least cost-effective mode, which predictably proliferated in response. Only when users of the most expensive infrastructure pay the full costs of the infrastructure they use, and when public policies encourage (instead of deter) the more sustainable mobility modes, can we hope for a more sustainable future.

(Part of an occasional series meant to burst the blood vessels of cybernuts like pork-eating, alcohol drinking “bapak”, and tax-dodging grave-dancer “Oxygen”).

Kuala Lumpur EPF branch retirement advisory service (RAS) officer Nornisah Mohd Yusof said many subscribers ran out of their EPF savings within three or five years after retiring although the life span for Malaysians had increased to 75 years.

“More worrying are cases where retirees withdrew 70% of their savings and spent the money in less than 30 days,” she told Bernama.“

Despite reporting losses of S$115.6 million in 2017, troubled water treatment firm Hyflux spent about S$2.7 million on remuneration for its key executives, with CEO Olivia Lum receiving between S$750,000 and S$1 million in salary, benefits and bonuses.

In addition to this “large remuneration”, Ms Lum also received more than S$60 million in dividends “in the time that shareholders and bond holders have seen their entire investment destroyed”, according to the Securities Investors’ Association (Singapore) (SIAS).

Highlighting these points, SIAS asked why the Hyflux founder – which has 34 per cent ordinary shareholding in the company – did not contribute her gains to the restructuring process. The investor watchdog also asked if Ms Lum would have any role in the Hyflux group after the firm’s restructuring.

These were just two of more than 40 questions put to Ms Lum and the Hyflux board by the investor watchdog in a letter issued on Monday (Feb 11) and signed off by its President and CEO David Gerald.

“SIAS, representing the interests of the numerous stakeholders of various securities, is seriously concerned that many questions regarding the operations, valuation and accountability of the board of directors of Hyflux have not been addressed, so as to help securities holders make an informed decision, with respect to the restructuring,” Mr Gerald said.

Like real, barking after things went wrong. Not when things were going wrong and things could possibly be done to rectify the situation. Talk of bolting the stable door after the horse bolted.

If SIAS was my watchdog, I’d have shot it. The audited accounts raised many red flags. It’s not as though, the debts, and cashflow issues were hidden. All public knowledge. So was thisBS?

“Hyflux Group has generated negative operating cashflow in every year since 2009. Was this highlighted to bondholders and shareholders? If so, in what form? Why did the Board continue to pay dividends, when the operating cashflow was negative and accumulate more debt during this time?”

The investor watchdog also highlighted that Hyflux, despite the negative operating cashflow, reported profits in each year before 2017 and asked how this was possible.

I hope that readers who clicked the link noticed that in 2014, S’pore graduated from “Hybrid regime” to “Flawed democracy”: same ranking as the US of A under Trump. Btw score in 2014 was 6.03. In 2018 it was 6.38

This disconnect between market jitters and robust economic indicators could disappear:

The direct effect of stock-owners feeling poorer could cut spending. The plunging stockmarket could hit consumer and business confidence, crimping spending and investment. Predictions of recession based on markets and financial indicators could influence economic behaviour and thus become self-fulfilling.

Judging by the past couple of decades, if stockmarket turmoil persists the Fed will respond by lowering its forecasts for growth. That would feed into a looser policy stance.

[…]

inflation remains subdued, having come in at or below expectations in recent months. That gives the Fed’s policymakers room to be lenient, meaning they can avoid the premature tightening they have often been criticised for. Investors may sense something the Fed does not. Playing it safe will give it time to correct course if needed.

Economist before “The case for raising rates has weakened somewhat,” the Fed chairman said at a news conference that followed the Fed’s policy meeting in late January.

More from the Economist before the Fed chickened out:

{So]ome leading economists pointed out that the new gloomy investor “narrative” could become self-reinforcing. “Suddenly, the markets are reacting as if there’s a crisis of interest rate increases,” argued Robert Shiller, the Yale professor and Nobel laureate. He pointed out that, although the Fed had been raising rates for several years, investors were only reacting to this now. “This doesn’t look rational,” he says, drawing parallels with the 1920s in terms of the sudden shift in psychology. “[Then] the earnings were high, the economy was moving well, but suddenly it crashed — and again it was talk, I think. There was a new narrative that developed in 1929, just as there is a new narrative developing today.”

There is a chance that the stockmarket will rouse itself from its slump in coming weeks.

Japan gears up for mega hack of its own citizens
Unprecedented cyber attack on 200m internet enabled devices is designed to test the nation’s vulnerability

FT headline

FT reports that the experiment, which will run for five years and will be supervised by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. It is intended to focus on devices that fall into the broadly-defined category of “internet of things” (IoT). FT says, “anything from a yoga mat that informs a smartphone of your contortions, to remotely controlled factory robots” will be tested.

Well we could have our very own “Ownsef hack ownself”: the Computer Security Agency should try to hack the IT systems of govt and its agencies’ systems.

Had been tried yrs ago, sort of.

At the dawn of the internet age here, when one Lee Hsien Yang was CEO, Singtel tried, “without permission”, to access our PCs etc: “Testing if users got proper security leh”. There was public row and SingTel apologised.

And now Lee Hsien Yang is a hero of the cybernuts who wish the PAP and 70% of the voters ill. Juz because he and his tai kor no longer have pa to supervise them. They forgot he tried to do surveillance of S’poreans all those yrs ago.

Btw, when I saw u/m video of a much henpecked otter, I tot of Lee Hsien Yang. It’s alleged he got fierce sister and wife.

Given the recent cybersecurity problems that we have been having, why are we doing biz with Huawei? So cheap and so gd that the PAP govt can ignore the links between Huawei and China? Is that the reason why the PAP govt refuses to name the country it thinks is behind the SingHealth hack?

China’s economic growth could slow to the weakest level on record (since records began in the early1990s)in the first quarter, reported the Economic Information Daily, a newspaper run by China’s official Xinhua news agency (China’s ST):

It is not difficult to determine that this year our country’s economy will continue to bear pressure, with a conservative estimate for full-year cumulative growth of about 6.3 per cent and the possibility that growth for the present quarter could reach 6 per cent.

Seriously, his suntan makes it look like he’s trying to do blackface: something that is a no-no among US progressives, going by what’s happening in Virginia. Google this up.

Fortunately, except among the ang moh tua kees, S’poreans don’t have a view on blackface, though if a prominent PAPpy does (or did) it, the cybernuts will be trying to stir the pot.

Looks like Bayee has some surgical dressing beneath his chin. He got injured during his recent reservist training? Power to him for not KPKBing that SAF trying to fix him.

As to the Chinese guy in the pix who is comfortable being Chinese, regular readers would have noticed that I’ve not blogged about his meetings with PM’s younger brother or about his new party.

I’m still trying to figure out what he’s up to, meeting PM’s very unhappy younger brudder (It’s alleged that he’s a henpecked husband, bullied by jia jia), and setting up a new political party. Is he growing senile? I don’t think so. Maybe he’s juz as crazy as the wily coyote of native American myths?

The performance of US stockpickers deteriorated in 2018 as just 38 per cent of actively managed equity funds outperformed their average passively managed peer over the 12 months to the end of December, according to the Morningstar, the data provider. That number was down from 46 per cent in 2017.

Supporters of active management have long argued that quantitative easing since the financial crisis and a decade of ultra-low interest rates have artificially suppressed stock market volatility.

Active fund managers kept saying their skills would shine once volatility returned to more normal levels. That theory was put to the test last year when more volatility buffeted Wall Street, leaving the S&P 500 delivering a minus 4.4 per cent return (including dividends), its weakest performance since 2008.

But the long-promised improvement for active managers failed to materialise.

Active fund managers who focus on “value” stocks — which trade at a low price relative to fundamentals, such as dividends, earnings or sales — had a particularly tough year, revealed the Morningstar data. Just 30.1 per cent of actively managed value funds that focus on large companies beat their passive peers in 2018. Success was even more elusive at the small end of the market where a lowly 15.9 per cent of value managers outperformed their average passively managed peers.

The answer is: the absence of democracy. Democracy, in turn, means a system in which free and fair elections determine who holds power. Thus the state must allow free expression of opinion, a free media, impartial execution of election law, a universal adult franchise and the right of political competitors to obtain the resources they need. Today, elections confer legitimacy. For this reason, many authoritarians offer “pseudo-democracy”, but not the reality. Elections in such countries are a form of theatre. Everybody knows the leader will not let himself be defeated. Such a regime is not just a bit different from a democracy: it is an entirely different animal.

Martin Wolf of the FT

For thinking S’poreans (not cybernuts who have since the dawn of the internet age — circa 1998 — been shouting that PAP rule will end at the next GE):

Though global growth expectations have been tempered over the past year based on slowing demand in China and the US, the end of the cycle is not nigh. The fall was from a high base and China’s policymakers are taking corrective action to support demand, Goldman said.

Global growth . . . is still sound in absolute terms, ie it implies demand growth that is above supply growth for the majority of commodities. Meanwhile, the lack of tangible capital expenditure on growth projects means that supply growth across the majority of commodities is negligible. As a result, we remain positive on most commodities overall.

Goldman

If metals prices fall, mining shares should prove resilient as, compared with previous downturns, their balance sheets are stronger and their returns are higher, Goldman said. It also said that a US slowdown would weigh on the dollar, which would be positive for commodity producers, and argued that, with the exception of zinc, supply growth remains scarce.

Its top pick in the sector was Anglo American, with the broker also repeating “buy” advice on BHP and Glencore.

Remember Goh Cock Chok Tong’s tots about building 5G leaders? This cock talk had me laughing because he (and his DPM, one Lee Hsien Loong) cocked up Dr Goh’s economic framework that took a lot from the Germans:

The Germans have a name for their unique economic framework: ordoliberalism. Its origins are perfectly legitimate – a response of Germany’s liberal elites to the breakdown of liberal democracy in 1933. It was born out of the observation that unfettered liberal systems are inherently unstable, and require rules and government intervention to sustain themselves. The job of the government was not to correct market failures but to set and enforce rules.

[…]

The ordoliberal world view is asymmetric. Current account surpluses are considered more acceptable than deficits. Since the rules are based on national law, ordoliberals do not care about their impact on the rest of the world. When they adopted the euro, the rest of the world suddenly did start to matter.

FT

As a very junior officer in the central bank, it was clear to me that Dr Goh tot

The job of the government was not to correct market failures but to set and enforce rules.

Cock Goh and Lee Jnr aided and abetted by people like Tharman (ang moh tua kees’ think the sun shines from his black ass) moved to a pseudo market economy where

Current account surpluses are considered more acceptable than deficits.

And where GLCs dominated the economy, sometimes wayanging against one another (think telcos).

To be fair, I think they were, and are, not cynically conning S’poreans. They really believed in their version of the mkt economy.

Coming back to Dr Goh, Dr Goh was really ordoliberal not socialist nor free market liberal. That was how he made S’pore great. The 2G, 3G and 4G leaders remain clueless on what made S’pore great.

[The folowing was added af 1.35pm]

As I wrote in

For all their academic brilliance Ah Loong and team have not advanced beyond tinkering with the framework that Dr Goh Keng Swee, Hon Swee Sen and Albert Winsemius devised. Evolution is fine to a point. But surely the world has undergone revolutionary change. When they were constructing their model of serving MNCs as a path to grow the economy, serving MNCs was “neo-colonialism”. Today even Red China serves as as the MNCs’ factory.

“If the rig building industry does not recover in the next three years, we think the consolidation of both SMM and KEP O&M could strengthen Singapore in the large-scale FLNG (KEP) and FPSO (SMM) newbuild segment as well as create an O&M design and engineering powerhouse, competing head-on with the Koreans.”

‘A possible structure is one mega yard (SMM + KEP O&M), one renewables/utility group Sembcorp Industries (SCI) and one urbanisation/infrastructure group (KEP).”

It thinks Sembcorp could be the long-term winner as a pure renewable energy/utility group focusing on overseas M&A to grow its capacity, commanding higher valuations. Brokers forever flogging this dog.

Meanwhile, it thinks, Keppel could continue to pursue its urbanisation solutions of property and infrastructure development, backed by asset management capital.

The total book value of SembMaritime and Keppel O&M amount to S$5.3 billion. The hypothetical shareholding structure of the enlarged yard could be in the form of a JV, with Temasek having a majority control stake, the broker says.

CGS-CIMB has Keppel, Sembcorp and SembMarine at “add” with target prices of S$8.41, S$3.49 and S$2.46 respectively.

I’m happy with the present Keppel set-up as there’s no guarantee that it’s O&M managers will run the joint show. SembMarine’s O&M managers are second rate by Keppel’s standards.

Vietnam grows more robusta than any other country, but exports most of this as raw, unbranded coffee beans to markets such as Germany for processing, branding and marking up for sale to end users.

FT

This set me thinking.

A hundred years ago, S’pore was a major exporter of processed rubber despite not having that many rubber trees. The rubber came from Malaya, the world’s largest producer. Of course, the Malayans (M’sians today) after independence in 1957, decided to process more of the raw rubber there, so we lost an industry. The same was also true of tin (Pulau Brani, now part of Sentosa, processed imported tin ore).

Where was the PAP govt and its vaunted EDB when Vietnam started exporting coffee beans in industrial quantities circa the 80s? They should have been encouraging global coffee brands to set up here to process, brand and mark up for sale to end users. I mean it must be cheaper to ship the beans to S’pore, than to Hamburg or Rotterdam? And German labour is a lot more expensive. Here got FTs meh.

Instead raw Viet Kong beans end up Germany.

For the record, the Viet Kong are trying to capture more of coffee’s value in Vietnam. Power to them. But until then, the German coffee manufacturers are laughing all the way to their banks.

There’s a lot of angst among S’poreans, the PAPpists, the anti-PAP mob and us ordinary S’poreans, that S’poreans not creative enough to survive in the future.

They ever tot that we don’t lie or cheat enough? Or more generally break the rules?

To be more creative, we could try lying in a controlled environment. Find online logic games and cheat at them, play Scrabble with a dictionary, or write a story about something that is untrue? Such tasks can get our brains thinking flexibly, beyond our normal comfort zone. This is not a call to become a pathological liar, but a controlled liar.

Breaking the rules to encourage creativity is echoed by the slogan “move fast and break things”, often associated with an entrepreneurial climate notorious for creativity and progress – Silicon Valley. New generation workspaces often intentionally create physical and social structures that are abnormal. This controlled “deviance” can stimulate new connections, brave new ideas.

Malaysia will hold further discussions with Singapore after the latter country announced a future ban on foreign vehicles with outstanding fines, said Malaysia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Marzuki Yahya on Sunday (Feb 3).

“We understand the ban has been issued effective April 1, 2019. We are in the process of discussion with Singapore and we need to discuss further on the matter,” he told reporters after an event in the Penang town of Batu Kawan.

“We have our own method to discuss this matter with Singapore. The discussion will be conducted simultaneously with the bilateral meeting with the republic later,” he added.

Marzuki was speaking in response to Johor International Trade, Investment and Utility Committee chairman Jimmy Puah, who said on Saturday that Malaysia had the right to make the same rule.

Earlier on Saturday, Singapore authorities had announced that foreign vehicles with outstanding fines for traffic, parking or vehicular emissions offences may be denied entry from Apr 1.

They said that motorists of foreign vehicles have so far accumulated about 400,000 outstanding fines amounting to S$32 million.
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“About 60,000 foreign vehicles enter Singapore daily. The majority of foreign motorists are law abiding,” said the agencies that included the Singapore Police Force and Land Transport Authority.

Happy, prosperous and illness-free New Year. To ensure these vote wisely. This means not voting for Mad Dog, Lim Tean or Meng Seng . But do think of voting for good SDP, WP and Tan Cheng Bock teams if they impress you better than the PAPpies they are fighting against.

Lim Tean, lawyer and leader of opposition party, People’s Voice Party visited the Teck Whye Market this morning (Saturday) and said that the party intends to field a team at the Choa Chu Kang GRC.

…

The Choa Chu Kang Group-Representative Constituency is currently held by the People’s Action Party and helmed by the Minister of Health Gan Kim Yong. The former party which contested against Gan’s team in the General Election 2015 was People’s Power Party led by Goh Meng Seng and prior to that, National Solidarity Party led by Sebastian Teo in GE2011.

Under Oppo chop system, Goh Meng Seng “owns” area even if voters give him the finger, which they did in last GE.

We always hear how out of touch PAP Elites are from the reality on the ground. But does it mean that all opposition politicians are not out of touch?

We always see PAP and Opposition politicians start to “walk the ground” when elections is looming. But how does that help for politicians from both sides in understanding the ground Issues other than providing the “hardworking” image or even “place chopeing” intentions?

I always tell reporters this when they ask when am I going to start “campaigning” :

My campaigning has NEVER stopped since I was in NUS!

Some people chose to be “suddenly vocal” when they started to have interests in contesting in their FIRST elections. Where were they before that?

They will start to “walk the ground” to gain “visibility”. Some are even worse. They have never voice out anything substantial, whether in or out of parliament in between general elections but would suddenly make a lot of noise just months before next elections!

And this applies to BOTH PAP and Opposition politicians.

I like consistency because it gives me a better gauge of characters and inner intentions.

Some would think that “quietly walking the ground and knocking doors”, even kiss babies are enough to win votes. I do not believe in that. We are not just voting for door to door salesman or saleswomen. We are not voting for estate managers. But we are looking for people who have ideas and ideals which they could debate in parliament.

PAP has lots of resources and no matter what goodwill you could gain by knocking doors could easily be negated by all goodies they can throw at voters just before GE.

The only way to build a strong base of unwavering support is to change their minds and hearts permanently through a consistent evangelism of ideas and ideals.

I respect people like JBJ, Dr Chee, Tan Kin Lian and others who had never stopped talking about their ideas and ideals even they lost. Never mind if I agree with them 100%

Juz wondering why he only respects born losers like himself?

And why despite all his life long campaigning, in the last three GEs each time representing a different party in a different GRC, his share of the popular vote in percentage terms kept declining.

TRE reader described him

kanasai gms: August 11, 2015 at 8:44 pm (Quote) this GMS fella, i will not vote for him. what he wrote or spoke about to the man are all the obvious issues that had appeared in this forum, and other online media many times before.

i will not want a character like him to be my mp. people will not forget the way he kept sniping at Sylvia Lim (and her party), even at her private affairs. what a bast**d this guy is. He even condemn my football hero Quah Kim Song. Remember because of his big mouth people will also remember those negative and bad remarks that he said about NSP hor!

this is classic kaykian kanasai howtai fella! With a fucker like him who need enemies as the saying goes…lolol!

he is now trying to appear to be praising and appreciative of his mentor LTK. sorry man! he had said many bad thing that he should not about LTK. one “good” quote from LTK during his walkabout will not redeem him

baring that english is not his 1st language, look at the way he handle and present himself in front of reporters in the ST video. i dont see a leader and a mp in him. it is no wonder that he had to resigned from NSP.

Someone sure going to lose deposit if it’s a three cornered fight. Lim Tean can afford it. I know that in 2017, Lim Tean was renting a white-and-black SLA bungalow for S$15,000 a month. But then it’s alleged that Meng Seng got Grandpa Xi: Meng Seng wants us to kowtow to Xi.

Whatever, if their paths cross in the next two weeks, I doubt Meng Seng will say to Lim Tean “Kong Hee Fatt Choy” or its Mandarin equivalent.

With enemies like this, how can PAP ever lose its hegemony?

Vote wisely. This means not voting for Mad Dog, Lim Tean or Meng Seng . But do think of voting for good SDP, WP and Tan Cheng Bock teams if they impress you better than the PAPpies they are fighting against.

But the gd news is that FT reported recently that Temasek had very recently told the mgt that it was not happy. I wrote last October HoHoHo: Time for StanChart’s CEO to go?. Shumeone in Temasek reads me? Ho Ho Ho

Have a prosperous and Happy Chinese New Year. To ensure this vote wisely. And certainly not for Mad Dog, Lim Tean and Meng Seng . But do think of voting for good SDP teams if they are better than the PAPpies.

Mr Cheng told TODAY: “Given the sensitivity and stigma surrounding HIV patients, I do not think there was an urgent need to tell the general public.

“There is, however, responsibility to tell the affected HIV patients. I think MOH genuinely thought in 2016 that the information was retrieved and the perpetrator caught and punished. The moment they realised this was not the case in 2018, they informed the affected people.

“In 2019, when the information was put out into the public domain, they announced this to the public… In this case, the need for privacy for the HIV patients takes precedence over the need for the general public to know.”

However, Mr Cheng said that the MOH “ought to have told the affected parties immediately in 2016 even after they apprehended (Brochez)”.